O'er squander'd wealth and wasted years

Full Text

1 O’er squandered wealth and wasted years,
In sin and folly past,
A wretched, starving prodigal
Awoke to mourn at last.
He pressed his weary, throbbing brow,
And through his tears he said,
"I spurned the home I might have shared
And now I starve for bread."

Refrain:
I will arise and go at once,
My Father’s love implore,
Confess my wrong, His pardon seek,
And feed on husks no more.

2 Forsaken, friendless, clothed in rags,
And poor as poor can be,
To lowest menial service brought,
A tyrant’s slave was he;
He turned disgusted from the swine
That he so long had fed;
"I can not from my Father stay,"
With firm resolve he said. [Refrain]

3 "I thought the world was what I dreamed,
My heart obeyed its call;
But now I find its fleeting joys
Are wormwood after all."
Be warned, oh gay and thoughtless ones,
That to the whirlwind sow,
Let’s hasten back to Father now,
He’s coming; let us go. [Refrain]